Salted caramel chocolate cake

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake
• 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup plus 1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
• 1/8 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tbsp. instant coffee
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp chocolate extract (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup whole milk
For the caramel
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/8 cup corn syrup (you can substitute honey too)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
For the frosting
• 2 oz. butter, at room temperature
• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, crushed
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup salted caramel
For the syrup to soak the cake
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp. dark rum (optional)
• 1/4 cup thick caramel
For the chocolate ganache to pour on top
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 6 oz. bittersweet dark chocolate bar ( 70% cacao or higher). The chocolate should give a very dark brown color after melting. I had used bitter sweet chocolate chips which totally failed to give me a dark color. (mistake #1)
For garnish
• 3 small gala apples
• 3 branches of tree
• 1/8 cup chopped roasted salted peanuts
• 1 tsp sea salt or less

Instructions

For the cake
1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. Prepare 3 nine-inch baking pans. I greased the bottom and sides with butter. Put a round parchment paper on their bottom and greased the parchment paper on top.
3. Mix and sieve flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
4. In a separate bowl, whip butter and sugar until light and smooth. Add coffee, extract, apple sauce and milk. Beat well. At this point, if the batter looks curdled, don't worry about it.
5. Fold in the dry ingredients with the wet.
6. Pour the batter equally in the 3 pans and put them all in the center rack. Bake for 25-30 min. Let it cool for a few minutes.
7. Flip the cakes out, remove the paper and let it cool completely.
8. Shave off the tops of cake to level them.
For caramel (Can be made while the cake is baking)
9. In a pan, add sugar and water and let it boil without stirring.
10. Once it achieves a light golden brown color, add corn syrup. Corn syrup helps in preventing the sugar to crystalize.
11. Add butter and heavy cream and stir it well. Let it thicken up and come to a runny caramel-like consistency. Turn off the stove.It will thicken up further on cooling.
For the frosting (To be made when the cake has cooled off. It coats the cake well when it is fresh.)
12. Whip butter, cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar with hand whisk until all mixed well and smooth.
13. Add vanilla essence, caramel and peanuts to it and mix well.
For the syrup (To be made after the cake has cooled off)
14. Heat the cream and caramel just before the boiling point.
15. Pour it over the chocolate chips. Let it sit for a minute.
16. Mix it well. Add rum to it.
For the dark chocolate ganache (To be made when the frosted cake has already chilled in the fridge)
17. Break the chocolate bar into small pieces.
18. Heat the cream just before the boiling point and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for a minute.
19. Mix it well. Make sure it's not too hot.
To assemble the cake
20. Put one of the inverted cake (shaved side down) on serving plate. Put 3 strips of parchment paper(forming a triangle at the edges) under the cake to catch the mess. You can pull the strips out after you are done. Pour 1/3 of the syrup all over the cake with a spoon and let it soak in completely.
21. Now layer the cake with the peanut butter frosting.
22. Put the next cake (shaved side down) on top of the first cake. Pour next 1/3 of the syrup all over the cake with a spoon and let it soak in completely.
23. Now layer the cake with the peanut butter frosting.
24. Repeat the last two steps for the last cake too.
25. Now frost the sides of the entire cake with the frosting and chill it in the fridge for 30 min to 1 hour.
26. Pour the dark chocolate ganache over the cake and let it drip down the edges on it own. If it's too thick for that, spread the ganache with a spatula over the top of the cake all the way to the edges and let the gravity work from there.
27. The mixture should be thick enough that it doesn't slide down the edges completely but also not so thick that it acts like frosting. My ganache was so thick that when it was time for it to fall off the edges of the cake, it fell like a goop, thus spoiling my cake. I had to cover my entire cake with it to cover up. (mistake #2) I have updated the amount of chocolate and cream ratio but feel free to readjust it.
28. Refrigerate the cake for at least an hour. You can remove the parchment strips now or after pouring the caramel.
29. Now, pour the caramel similar to the ganache. If it is too thick, heat it up and let it cool a bit before pouring. You don't want to melt your chocolate. Save a little to dip the apples.
30. Insert the branches in the apple. Dip the apples in caramel and put it on the cake.
31. Sprinkle some peanuts and salt randomly.
32. Refrigerate the cake for 30 min before eating. It is optional.

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